Plankton in the pacific ocean

Trilobites Karen Weintraub, New York Times 12:33 pm PDT, Thursday, September 27, 2018 Whales sit at the top of their food chain. Chemicals like PCBs are taken up by plankton at the base of the food chain, then eaten by herring and other small fish, which are themselves eaten by larger fish, and so on. less Whales sit at the top of their food chain. Chemicals like PCBs are taken up by plankton at the base of the food chain, then eaten by herring and other small fish, which are themselves eaten by larger fish, and ... more Photo: Shutterstock An overhead image of the newest member of the Southern Resident killer whale population, L122, just days after being born to first-time mother L91. An overhead image of the newest member of the Southern Resident killer whale population, L122, just days after being born to first-time mother L91. Photo: NOAA, … [Read more...] about Study: Pollution could wipe out half of the world’s orcas

IT'S a shocking sight: a fisherman struggling to row his boat down a river that is so densely polluted with waste materials you can no longer see the water. With a staggering 2,000 tonnes of plastic flowing down it every day, the Citarum River in Java, Indonesia is believed to be dirtiest in the world. Where 20 years ago the 190-mile-long river was full of fish, it is now home to a flotilla of plastic so big it stretches the whole width of the river. Dead animals are frequently found among the debris. Almost 60 per cent of the fish once living here have since died out due to the amount of rubbish, including used nappies and toxic waste, and the remaining stocks are no longer fit for human consumption. In a desperate attempt to change this, local villagers are trying to remove the plastic from the river and recycle it, but often this leads to landfill sites being created on the ground instead as they have no access to waste disposal units. The Citarum is one of several "plastic … [Read more...] about Used nappies, dead animals and clogged with 2,000 tonnes of plastic a DAY: We go down the world’s most polluted river

Monday, September 24, 2018 by: Tracey Watson Tags: badhealth, badpollution, California, Canada, cancer, clean water, contaminated fish, Ecology, environ, environment, food supply, Fukushima, Japan, nuclear, nuclear disaster, ocean health, radiation, radiation science, West Coast (Natural News) In March 2011, the province of Fukushima, Japan, was struck by a series of devastating events that culminated in one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. First, the area experienced a magnitude 9.0 earthquake; that, in turn, caused a 15-metre (50-foot) tsunami; and finally, the tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling functions at the Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing a nuclear accident on the 11th of March which was rated a 7 on the INES scale. Four nuclear reactors were destroyed, and clean-up work has been ongoing ever since. Experts estimate that it will take at least 40 years to finalize this clean-up, and in the meantime, 300 tons of radioactive water continue to be … [Read more...] about Is Fukushima radiation affecting the West Coast? Consider these signs

Sunday, September 16, 2018 by: Zoey Sky Tags: aquatic ecosystem, badpollution, chemicals, Ecology, environ, environment, environmental harm, garbage, marine ecology, marine ecosystems, marine life, microfibers, microplastics, nanoplastics, Oceans, plankton, Plastic, plastic pollution, plastic waste, plastics, pollutants, toxic chemicals, toxic water, toxins, water, water health, water pollution (Natural News) Microplastics are so small that they may seem harmless, but they’re polluting oceans and poisoning marine life by the second. According to an article on The Revelator, microplastics can absorb chemicals, which is bad news for the birds, fish, seals, and even humans that unwittingly consume these pollutants. The author of the article said that she joined a 23-day scientific expedition through the Eastern North Pacific Gyre, which is now highly polluted. The gyre, or a large system of rotating currents, swirls clockwise from the California coast to the … [Read more...] about Latest research suggests that microplastics are wreaking havoc all the way up to the marine food web

(CNN)An ambitious project to clean up the ocean's plastic pollution got underway over the weekend as members of The Ocean Cleanup project began towing their system out to sea. If it works as expected, they'll try to take a bite out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- a huge collection of floating trash that's three times the size of France, or about double the size of Texas. Great Pacific Garbage Patch now three times the size of France The Ocean Cleanup System 001 consists of a 2,000 foot (600 meter) long floating barrier with a 10 foot (3 meter) skirt that hangs below it, under the water. It looks like a section of pipe, or a giant pool noodle -- a pool noodle that's longer than the One World Trade Center skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. It set sail on Saturday from San Francisco, California, and is being towed 240 nautical miles off shore for a two week test to make sure that it behaves as expected in the open ocean. Read More When it's deployed, it will curve into a … [Read more...] about Plan to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch gets underway